To mark the death of Liverpool’s, most loved comedian, here’s one of the times I interviewed Ken Dodd when I worked in radio in Liverpool.. This interview, first broadcast on BBC Radio Merseyside in December 2001, has not been heard since.

Doddy speaks of his affection for Christmas and the coming of the Light of the World. His simple Christian faith was evident in his life and work, including his generous work for charities.

I was talking to Ken in 2001, sitting in the choir stalls of Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral, about the Merseyside NHS Carol Service at which he was a regular speaker.

As a fan of all things Christmas, and as a fan of podcasts, I love listening to Christmas podcasts. Some of these are about the history of Christmas, some are about the films and songs of Christmas, and some are just Christmas music. Some only come back for the Christmas season while some devoted podcasters keep up the Christmas message all through the year.

As a British person, I have to warn you that what these podcasts all have in common is that they are American, or at least they all mainly refer to American culture. What we badly need is a podcast reflecting the history and culture of the British Christmas.

I’ll put in a link to their home site, but the best way to find the podcasts is to get your favourite podcast app and to search for them by name.

Bubbling under: other Christmas podcasts to investigate, that didn’t make my top ten…

In classic style, from ten to one, here’s my top ten Christmas podcasts…

10. Tis the Podcast

A year-round Christmas podcast presented by three elves called Anthony, Julia and Thom, who discuss a Christmas film or TV special each week. The episodes are over-long, but if you have the time to give to this and love Christmas films, it will draw you in.

9. Christmas Carols

Podcasts can be a good source of Christmas carols. This site and its podcast feed has some consistently good Christmas music that brings us back to the message of the birth of Christ. The traditional and the contemporary mix is well balanced and sensitive.

8. Weird Xmas

A project that began with a collection of strange Christmas cards has now developed a podcast that has sideways look at some Christmas films, television and other media offerings. It’s well produced and fast-moving, with each episode lasting only as long as it needs to.

7. Christmas Stories from Focus on the Family

If you like the ministry of Focus on the Family, you’ll enjoy this new family podcast of stories and reflections hosted by John Fuller and Eva Daniel. Young children may not have the concentration to listen to complete episodes, but there are already some gems here for all ages.

6. Can’t Wait for Christmas

Anarchic and rapid-fire, with an emphasis on Christmas films, comedian Tim Babb presents a fast-moving Christmas podcast with attitude. This is for you if your style is more “Muppets Christmas Carol” than Midnight Mass. And if you care about whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie or not. An acquired taste, but it’s worth a try.

5. Celtic Christmas Podcast

What do you get if you combine the magic of Christmas with a purist’s take on Celtic music? This is what you get. Nearly fifty episodes of Irish/Scottish/American Celtic music with a Christmas flavour presented by the “celtfather” Marc Gunn, who’s not above promoting his own music and his compilation albums. If you like this music, you’ll love this podcast.

4. Merry Little Podcast

The cost-free option of the two podcasts produced all through the year by the people at http://mymerrychristmas.com, this is a consistent source of Christmas music and history. The production lacks the personality of some of the shows featured here, and it doesn’t seem clear what its audience is. But it has a good knowledge of Christmas tradition, and it’s worth subscribing to keep Christmas alive all year.

3. 25 Songs of Christmas

The production is rough around the edges, but John “Moose” Williamson has a winning style and an enthusiasm for Christmas music and the Christmas season which brings joy to the listener. The production values have improved through the four seasons it’s been going while maintaining its folksy charm. You might hate it, but it’s worth a try.

2. Christmas Past

Brian Earl has produced fewer than twenty episodes but each one has been a gem: a slice of Christmas history with some personal reminiscences and some expert interviews. They are precisely edited and presented with intelligence and style.

1. The Christmas
Stocking

This is my Number One. For more than ten years Lee Cameron has been giving us generous gifts of beautifully produced ten-minute episodes, each recounting a piece of Christmas tradition and history and some carefully-selected pod-friendly music. All podcasts should sound like this.

]]>http://www.wayneclarke.org/christmas/christmas-podcasts-top-ten/feed0Reformation 3 – The Church his peoplehttp://www.wayneclarke.org/reformation/reformation-3-the-church-his-people
http://www.wayneclarke.org/reformation/reformation-3-the-church-his-people#respondWed, 08 Nov 2017 16:56:50 +0000http://www.wayneclarke.org/?p=485The third of three talks given by Wayne Clarke at New North Road Baptist Church, Huddersfield, marking 500 years since Martin Luther lit the spark of the Protestant Reformation in Europe.

This third one was given on Sunday November 5th, 2017. It begins with a Bible reading (1 Peter 2:4-10) from Stewart Naylor.

click on the link below to download and read the text that the talk was based on:

click on the link below to download to see the PowerPoint that went alongside the talk:

]]>http://www.wayneclarke.org/reformation/reformation-3-the-church-his-people/feed0Reformation 2 – Only the Biblehttp://www.wayneclarke.org/reformation/reformation-2-only-the-bible
http://www.wayneclarke.org/reformation/reformation-2-only-the-bible#respondWed, 08 Nov 2017 16:48:25 +0000http://www.wayneclarke.org/?p=481The second of three talks given by Wayne Clarke at New North Road Baptist Church, Huddersfield, marking 500 years since Martin Luther lit the spark of the Protestant Reformation in Europe.

This second one was given on Sunday October 29th, 2017. It begins with a Bible reading (2 Timothy 3:1-17) from Barbara Trigg.

click on the link below to download and read the text that the talk was based on:

click on the link below to download to see the PowerPoint that went alongside the talk:

]]>http://www.wayneclarke.org/reformation/reformation-2-only-the-bible/feed0Reformation 1 – Only by Gracehttp://www.wayneclarke.org/reformation/reformation-1-only-by-grace
http://www.wayneclarke.org/reformation/reformation-1-only-by-grace#respondMon, 06 Nov 2017 14:51:10 +0000http://www.wayneclarke.org/?p=453The first of three talks given by Wayne Clarke at New North Road Baptist Church, Huddersfield, marking 500 years since Martin Luther lit the spark of the Protestant Reformation in Europe.

This first one was given on Sunday October 22nd, 2017. It begins with a Bible reading from Gordon Morrison.

As well as the audio of each talk you can read the text as a Word document and see an accompanying PowerPoint Presentation.

click on the link below to download and read the text that the talk was based on:

click on the link below to download to see the PowerPoint that went alongside the talk:

]]>http://www.wayneclarke.org/reformation/reformation-1-only-by-grace/feed0Parchment Reunited 2004http://www.wayneclarke.org/radio/parchment-reunited-2004
http://www.wayneclarke.org/radio/parchment-reunited-2004#respondThu, 06 Apr 2017 14:18:58 +0000http://www.wayneclarke.org/?p=441The Liverpool band Parchment played folk gospel music in the 1970s. The three original members of the group John Paculabo, Keith Rycroft and Sue McClellan rarely met together after Keith left the band.

In 2004 BBC Producer Wayne Clarke brought together John and Keith and with Sue at the end of a phone line, spoke to the three of them. It was their last “reunion”, and John died in January 2013.

Originally broadcast on BBC Local Radio, here’s the programme made from their 2004 reunion, presented and produced by Wayne Clarke.

]]>http://www.wayneclarke.org/radio/parchment-reunited-2004/feed0The Modern Christmas – the history of Christmas part fourhttp://www.wayneclarke.org/christmas/the-modern-christmas
http://www.wayneclarke.org/christmas/the-modern-christmas#respondSat, 31 Dec 2016 17:25:19 +0000http://www.wayneclarke.org/?p=427The history of Christmas in four podcasts: here’s the fourth, with writers Steve Legg and Nicky Gumbel.

Written, presented and produced by me, Wayne Clarke and originally broadcast on BBC Local Radio.

]]>http://www.wayneclarke.org/christmas/the-modern-christmas/feed0The Victorian Christmas – the history of Christmas part threehttp://www.wayneclarke.org/christmas/the-victorian-christmas
http://www.wayneclarke.org/christmas/the-victorian-christmas#respondSat, 31 Dec 2016 17:23:05 +0000http://www.wayneclarke.org/?p=425The history of Christmas in four podcasts: here’s the third, with historian Christine Lalumia.

Written, presented and produced by me, Wayne Clarke and originally broadcast on BBC Local Radio.

]]>http://www.wayneclarke.org/christmas/the-victorian-christmas/feed0The Tudor Christmas – the history of Christmas part twohttp://www.wayneclarke.org/christmas/the-tudor-christmas
http://www.wayneclarke.org/christmas/the-tudor-christmas#respondSat, 31 Dec 2016 17:21:04 +0000http://www.wayneclarke.org/?p=420The history of Christmas in four podcasts: here’s the second, with historian Alison Plowden.

Written, presented and produced by me, Wayne Clarke and originally broadcast on BBC Local Radio.

]]>http://www.wayneclarke.org/christmas/the-tudor-christmas/feed0The Medieval Christmas – the history of Christmas part onehttp://www.wayneclarke.org/christmas/the-medieval-christmas
http://www.wayneclarke.org/christmas/the-medieval-christmas#respondSat, 31 Dec 2016 16:52:29 +0000http://www.wayneclarke.org/?p=408The history of Christmas in four podcasts: here’s the first, with historian Sophie Jackson.

Written, presented and produced by me, Wayne Clarke and originally broadcast on BBC Local Radio.